"They're going to see what they can do from their end and have passed on numbers of other politicians who may be able to help out with our petition too," she said.

It was somewhat "daunting" to approach the politicians, Mr Burke said, complete with "a folder with Hemi's picture on the front".

"But I think it really helped to put a face to something like this," he said.

"They hear about these sort of things, but I think it's different being face-to-face with the actual people affected."

Ms Goodwin believes "children aren't being protected in Queensland" and Mr Burke added "we just have to do something".

"We want to stop the next little victim going through what Hemi went through," Ms Goodwin said.

Shane Burke helps his devastated partner Kerri-Ann Goodwin down the stairs of Mackay Courthouse after the sentencing of their son Hemi Goodwin-Burke's killer, Matthew James Ireland, on June 5.Luke Mortimer

"We never wanted to be doing this, never thought I'd be in this position, but our aim now is to protect children and provide justice for them. To have a better justice system.

"It's getting us through. This is us now. There's days we really battle, days we seem to get more 'no' than 'yes'. But you need to look at the bigger picture and hope someone will say 'yes, we'll help you with this'.